Drug pricing for a novel treatment for wet macular degeneration: using incremental cost-effectiveness ratios to ensure societal value.

Objective: Health economic models can assist policy-makers in determining the value of novel treatments from the viewpoint of society. In this context, value is defined as the benefit of treatment, given its cost. A new treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), juxtascleral administration of anecortave acetate, 15 mg for depot suspension (Retaane), is now in a late-phase clinical trial.

Relationship of AcrySof acrylic and PhacoFlex silicone intraocular lenses to visual acuity and posterior capsule opacification.

Purpose: To compare the changes in visual acuity and the development of posterior capsule opacification (PCO) with AcrySof acrylic intraocular lenses (IOLs) (Alcon Laboratories) and second-generation PhacoFlex silicone IOLs (Allergan ).

Setting: Eye Associates of New Mexico and Southwest Colorado, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.

Methods: Medical charts of patients having cataract extraction with implantation of an AcrySof MA30BA or MA60BM (MA30/60) or PhacoFlex SI-30NB or SI-40NB (SI-30/40) IOL between January 1995 and June 1997 were abstracted.